Apple pie
To be clear here, I am not a pie guy. I’ll eat it but it’s not tops on my list. Several of my sisters point out when I make a cake that their family prefers pies. Fine, then make them pies. They don’t have to eat cake. But here’s the thing I just cannot make a decent pie. Key lime pies, yes. But fruit pies are just never great for me. Or anyone else, when I make them, anyway.
For my German meal I made an apple, raisin, walnut pie. I bought a mix of really nice apples and sliced them very thin since my problem is always that the fruit is still crunchy. I soaked the raisins in bourbon. Mixed it all up with the various spices and sugars and plopped it into a pie crust, please note lovely lattice work.
I watched Alison Roman make an apple pie (here) and she baked it for 90 minutes. I was like wha? Alrighty then, problem solved. Except that an hour and a half later the apples were still crunchy. Tasted good enough but no . . . no crunchy fruit in pies. The bourbon flavor was fantastic and I served it with whiskey ice cream. Again, my guest did not seem to mind the crunchy apples. But I did.
